Jarrell tornado survivors remember ‘The Last F5’ to hit Central Texas, 25 years later

10:39 - Her father's last words, "Hold on tight" in ink on her arm.

This tornado chills me to the bone. It was just so vicious, the way it granulated all the debris and just left NOTHING.

Our middle school was on a Texas history trip (down from Plano) and stayed at a motel in Jarrell or JUST outside of Jarrell the very same day. I was 12. I remember being in the motel parking lot and not being able to see past the parking lot because the atmosphere was so black. Like walls of black surrounded the motel...like nothing existed beyond the black or the hotel lights behind me (still kinda haunts me to this day) The lighting was so intense and ill never forget the fear I saw in one of the teachers faces when we were told to go inside. There is no doubt we narrowly escaped this tornado and I am so lucky to be typing this now. I am only now realizing 25 years later that I was seeing the darkness of death right in front of me. Us kids had no idea the severity of it. Big thanks to the teachers for keeping us calm. God bless

At 16:42 several of the residents comment how the authorities wouldn't let them go back to their homes. That is true. The people who were displaced and removed from that area were sent to the Baptist Church in Jarrell. They were angry because for three days, they were not allowed into the destroyed area where their homes were at. Believe me, it would have been an incredible cruelty to allow them back into that area before it was secured and cleared by the emergency responders. We knew the residents were mad at us, but it didn't matter. They just didn't understand.

When it goes all calm and quiet is exactly when you should be worried.

I remember this day all too well. I remember how it was early in the morning and it was so muggy. What was turning out to be a beautiful day would be a very sad day for me and my family. My dad took his life early that morning. Later on that day, we were at my parent's house. I was outside talking to people I knew and it was so muggy still. I remember looking up at the sky and these huge, white football shaped clouds were moving really fast from southwest to northeast. I remember thinking how fast they were moving and the wind wasn't blowing at all. Anyway the next day I saw on tv where a huge tornado had hit a small town in Texas and that there were people missing and homes missing. I remember seeing pieces of the roads were gone. I was grieving my dad, so I just remember some of the news footage. I do remember people were talking about that tornado. Years later, I started watching documentaries on YouTube and have read several stories about that tornado. My heart goes out to the people that lost their lives that day and to the people that lost their loved ones. God Bless you.

I worked at DPS headquarters that day. At the time my office was below ground. My daughter called terrified because she thought the tornado was coming towards where we lived in South Austin. I left to go home, and I was driving down North Lamar heading south, I looked in my rear view mirror, and looking north, it was pitched black. Once I got home, I found out what had happened in Jarrell. It was a day, and time, I won’t ever forget.

Hello, I am retired senior citizen and my grandson is a new meteorologist (congrats). We had family gathering last month and of course my first question to him, "which tornado was most powerful," without hesitation he said, "Jarrell." Then he pulled out his laptop and proceeded to show me some Jarrell ground/aerial photos, and those vacant concrete slabs were visually shocking. He also said, "twisting speed was 300 mph but what made this tornado so extraordinary was it's slow movement intensifying it's destruction substantially." So here i am and what i researched myself in 30 days was mesmerizing yet eerie. First and foremost R.I.P. to those that perished and my condolences to all family members/friends. 27 deaths caused by the tornado occurred within one subdivision of Jarrell, a neighborhood of 38 well built houses called Double Creek Estates. Each residence was completely swept away and reduced to a concrete slab. The twister produced some of the most extreme ground scouring ever documented as the earth at and around Double Creek was scoured out to depths of 18 inches reducing lush fields of grass to vast expanses of mud. The tornado left an unbroken swath of barren earth vacant of fences, telephone poles, trees, pavement and homes that once dotted the landscape. Cars and heavy wreckers were granulated into small pieces and scattered across the earth never to be identified, think about that for a ..moment. The cause of death for most of the victims was tactfully listed by the county coroner as "multiple trauma", although the truth was obviously far more grisly and difficult to explain to next of kin. Human and animal body parts reportedly littered the area for miles, creating an unbearable stench of decay. Police were forced to close off the entire area as a biohazard zone for weeks as cadaver dogs worked to find human body parts buried throughout the wreckage. Pieces were spread out on the floor of a local volunteer fire department - recovery teams tried to distinguish human remains from animal remains. Most had to be identified through dental records. Many were never recovered at all. What a nightmare. Timothy P. Marshall is a structural and forensic engineer as well as meteorologist. He has conducted more than 10,000 damage surveys of tornadoes, hurricanes and hailstorms. Tim is best of the best and after surveying Jarrell he said, "Houses were obliterated. The destruction was so intense, it serves as a baseline for which all other tornadoes are rated against." Regardless if tornado is moving forward at 8 mph or 80 mph, fact remains that so many surveyors consider Double Creek storm to be the most catastrophic tornado in terms of intensity still today 2022. I've seen photographs of Bridge Creek, Hackleburg-Phil Cambell, Bakersfield Valley, Smithville, Pomeroy, Udall, Brandenburg, Pampa, Parkersburg, Loyal Valley, Philadelphia-MS, Plainfield, Greensburg, Xenia, El Reno, Joplin and they do not compare to Double Creek Estates duration intensity, Nothing Does. I've learned and seen enough What did i learn ? That "Dead Man Walking" is an understatement And my advice ? If you see one, RUN !!!!

God Bless you Malory Sumners and others who went thru the devastration.

This was a well produced, respectful segment.

I've been through 2 storms that hit the coast of New England, 1978 4' of ocean slush in our living room, 1991 swept the house out to sea but this storm and that image of the walking man is etched into my mind, knowing how violent and slow it progressed over those poor people breaks my heart, even all these years later. RIP🙏

I was 9 years old living in Hewitt. It was a very eerie day, 1st time hearing Tornado sirens. 🙏

Wow! Such a great mini documentary. Great work KXAN, and bless all the families in Jerrell. We will never forget. ❤️

There are some Tornadoes where you can go, "That Tornado was really a F4 Tornado." but it's given a F5 rating. This Tornado... this Tornado was a certain no-doubter that it was a F5.

I think Gary England from KWTV and Jim Spencer from KXAN are the best storm trackers ever.

I remember watching an indepth documentary about this day. It was well done, capturing the living nightmare the people of this town went thru. What made my hair stand on end the most was the freeze frame of the tornado as it swept across the land. It looked like a gigantic monster. The vortices that danced around this tornado gave it the appearance of having legs, walking ominously across homes and pastures on a mission to devastate everything near. This thing stripped the skin off of cattle, wiped out entire family's, scalped the earth of grass and turned straws of hay into flying daggers. There are giant machinery and appliances that were never found. It was just... gone. I've watched many many documentaries on tornadoes, but none of them made me feel the way that particular documentary did. It scared the crap out of me and I wasn't even there! I was in a small town outside of Houston far away. My God. Smh Rest in peace to everyone who died and my heart and sympathy will forever be with those who survived. 🙏❤️❤️❤️

What I couldn’t believe about this monster was how fast it went from pencil to wedge and how slow it moved. This was probably the worst ground scouring ever recorded. This thing grinded things into hamburger including people and animals. Probably a once in 500 year event. Imagine 250-300 mph winds sitting over the same area for multiple minutes at a time. I call this Tornado The Mutilator

Everybody is talking about it being sunny but it is often sunny before the storm comes in. The storm uses the heat of the day and the cool of the evening with a cold front to mix together. That is what forms tornadoes.

A man in a city 50 miles away found photo albums from families in Jarrell. 50 miles. Photo albums, clothing articles.

Wow this was in depth. I’m so sorry to everyone who went through this.